Serious Reflection and Critical Thinking Through Understanding the Use Essay - 1

Serious Reflection and Critical Thinking Through Understanding the Use of Social Media - Essay Example Initially, students used to meet and discuss issues in an attempt to come up with a conclusion. Personal interactions encouraged students to tackle challenging issues through intensive research. In addition, through one-on-one interactions, it was easy to divide the roles and support each other in a specific task. This encouraged the students to think critically in order to support the rest of the group members. However, this is not the case. The students are currently using social media and other instant communication methods to communicate with each other while completing a task. This has made it very hard for them to think critically as a group and reflect on the issues at hand. College students can practice serious reflection in our always connected and instantaneous world through regulating their own time. Time management has become a major issue with the modern communication methods. Therefore, in order to ensure that there no frequent interruptions which affect the studentâ₠¬â„¢s reflection and critical thinking, they need to come up with a strict plan on when and how to use the social media and other instantaneous communication methods (Biagi 2012). For instance, they need to switch off some of the gadgets they use in communication while in group discussions or conducting research. This would make it possible for them to reflect and re-imagine the issue at hand. The students should embrace group work rather than individual assignments. Group discussions are very significant in enabling the students to brainstorm ideas.

Sufficient Staff Training for Prevention and Management of Violence in Research Proposal

Sufficient Staff Training for Prevention and Management of Violence in Acute Inpatient Psychiatric and mental health care Units - Research Proposal Example This essay discusses that over the years, researchers have stressed on the relationship between caregivers and clients. Special consideration to this relationship is given in terms of behavioral health sciences because of the increased potential for aggression with this client population. Mental health caregivers can considerably reduce the number of violent incidents that are more likely to happen in an acute inpatient psychiatric unit. Studies have revealed that healthcare workers including nurses, physicians, psychologists and social workers are likely to experience physical assault or verbal violence from patients in behavioral health units. The amount of violence has increased in various workplaces and researchers such as Rippon have identified exposure to violence as a significant problem for health care professional as well. The need to offer timely staff training programs to the healthcare professions for the prevention and management of violence has been pointed out by such researchers as Doughty; Warshaw & Messite; and Flannery et al. Similarly, the adverse effects and negative consequences of patient violence on the health care workers have also been pointed out by such researchers as Doughty and Stathopoulou. The before and after studies conducted by researchers such as Calabro, Mackey and Williams have also revealed that staff training enhances the knowledge, attitude, self-efficacy, and behavioral intention of the participants towards violence in the work place.... ers including nurses, physicians, psychologists and social workers are likely to experience physical assault or verbal violence from patients in behavioral health units. The amount of violence has increased in various workplaces and researchers such as Rippon have identified exposure to violence as a significant problem for health care professional as well (Rippon, 2000). The need to offer timely staff training programs to the healthcare professions for the prevention and management of violence has been pointed out by such researchers as Doughty (2005); Warshaw & Messite (1996); and Flannery et al (2000). Similarly, the adverse effects and negative consequences of patient violence on the health care workers have also been pointed out by such researchers as Doughty (2005) and Stathopoulou (2003). The before and after studies conducted by researchers such as Calabro, Mackey and Williams (2002) have also revealed that staff training enhances the knowledge, attitude, self-efficacy, and b ehavioral intention of the participants towards violence in the work place. Training staff servicing in psychiatric and mental health care units are more likely to experience incidents of violence and therefore it is imperative that further researches are undertaken in this regard to identify how far staff training helps in preventing violence in acute health care units. The main objective of this research is to evaluate the correlation of trained staff working in acute inpatient psychiatric units and the number of violent incidents observed within the milieu. The research aims to give prominence to the need of training which is required to prevent and manage the incidents of violent episodes. This research will be helpful for the population in the medical field including nurses, doctors,

Gay Marriage Essay Example for Free

Gay Marriage Essay Persons acquire special duties on account of their moral and legal relationship to another. One such relationship is established in marriage. Marriage is a moral and legal contact between a man and woman. It is a moral contract because it is entered into by both parties, giving free and voluntary consent. It is a legal contract because it is solemnized in accordance with the law. Marriage is an important institutional element of the family. It is the cultural mechanism that ensures its continuity. Marriage is an institution consisting of a cluster or mores and folkways, of attitudes, ideas, and ideals, of social definitions and legal restrictions (see Brennan, Robert Edward: Thomistic Psychology, New York Macmillan Co. , 1999). People marry for a combination of reasons: love, economic and emotional security, the parents’ wishes, escape from loneliness or an unhappy home situation, money, companionship, protection, adventure, or common interests (see Buckley, Joseph: Man’s last End, London, Herder Book Co. , 1999). Sex or sexual attraction is the least consideration, but marriage makes sexual intercourse legitimate. It sanctions parenthood and provides a stable background for rearing of children. Marriage is the foundation of the family, an inviolable social institution. Its purpose may not necessarily be for procreation or to have children but for companionship, as in the case of couples past the age of procreation. This paper intends to discuss the pros and cons of gay marriage or same-sex marriage. II. Discussion A. Pros †¢ Society should allow same Gay Marriage: In the article, fighting the same sex marriage should be allowed. Ralph Wedgwood firmly believes that same- sex couple has every right to marry. For him, marriage is not just a mere ceremony but through it the people in the community may know that both of the parties are very serious of their relationship and that it is not just a game. For them, it is a commitment and a thing to be really cherished even if the society throws issues on them. Having a same sex relationship that eventually, if permitted could lead to marriage is about a domestic and long lasting relationship. The article by Wedgwood, who is an assistant professor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of technology at Cambridge. The purpose of marriage is mutual support and companionship. Marriage is a state where spouses compliment each other. Love and concern for each other is the foundation of a happy marriage. Without such love and appreciation for each other, no man and woman or a couple with the same sex can be together permanently. Thus, such love which draws spouses in marriage must be more than physical attachment, sexual attraction, or infatuation. It is the deep commitment of matured persons for each other. Married spouses have every rights and duties to perform like in the financial aspect, in division of possession, insurance and other things that should be shared by the couple. Many same sex couples now are being given privilege if they are not yet married or are committed legally with each other Marriage is not just about rights and benefits they will get from the society and with their partners. It is a deeper union of the souls loving each other. Some people tags marriage of low- respect, they see marriage as a means of satisfying ones’ self of sexual desires, well in fact it is more than that. Procreation and sex are not the only reason why people want to get married. Some couples after getting married and found out that it won’t click, and then decides to get a divorce. A person does not have any right to choose and disapprove a decided marriage, the decision is up to the ones involve in the relationship. The laws determine the ones who are those that are married and those who are not being recognized. Society’s expectations on marriage depend on the rights and obligations of both parties, thus these duties and obligations should be done by both parties. The spouse should support his/ her partner, and if divorce will result they should equally divide all their properties. Marriage is a serious thing to decide. The parties should be that committed and they should really love and care for each other. Marriage is not just a joke; it is a long term domestic partnership with the one you adore. Same sex couples want to get married for the reasons that a normal boy- girl relationship also has. They are not just after of the benefits and privilege that they could get in the society and with their spouses but they also want to be recognized by the society. Their relationship is not just purely based on lust or sexual desires but also for them to have a serious commitment, like sharing of responsibilities. Many homosexuals, lesbians and gays aspires that what the society expects of marriage is also the kind of marriage that they are dreaming to achieve or to have. Many questions are being raised on having a domestic partnership. People may ask, if having a domestic partnership is renewable? Do they really have to support each other in all aspects? Or they just stick with each other because of sex and fun? For the society, it is less recognized than having the ceremony of marriage. They wanted to be recognized by the society that even if they are of the same sex, they still know what real love is and they are ready for a lifetime commitment. For them it is the greatest benefit of marriage, to be recognized by the society and that is why the State disapproves of this. Many critics say that if same- sex marriage is approved it would then deviate to the real purpose of marriage, such as its real meaning like procreation or the process of bearing children. But as we see now, some of the married couples are not able to perform this duty. The disapproval of same sex marriage still needs to be reviewed. The State is concerned on the moral values of the church, and Christianity. Some believes that heterosexual partnerships are above homosexual relationships. Many criticized same sex marriage and many are against it because it if is approved it will just be equal with the heterosexuals and it will just lower the view of the society about relationships. They should be allowed because they are not hideous criminals to do such an act; it is just being with someone you love. The murderers and even convicted criminals are allowed to marry but still the State still does not allow this kind of relationship. Same sex marriage would not force anybody to allow this gay or lesbian relationship if it is just totally against them and their beliefs. But all they wanted to happen is for the society to understand their feelings and relationships with the same sex and they are really serious with it. B. Cons †¢ Society should not allow same- Sex marriage: According to Burman Skrable, when same- sex marriage will be legalized it would be a great detriment to the society. It totally deviates from the real purpose of marriage which is to â€Å"procreate†. These children will be the future of the society and the environment. Approving it would somehow destroy the essence of marriage and the family which is the basic unit of the society by legalizing a relationship that is non procreative. Some Christians fight to disapprove it. For it totally disobeys God’s doctrines and Commandments. But all of them are aware that these days, there are great query about the laws that God has put up because of the rising taboo that has been happening in the society now. Great changes are being called out by the believers but the challenge of this is fast arising. We should stand firm and follow or obey the instructions that God has written in His Word. We should not involve ourselves in such promiscuous acts that we ourselves know is unacceptable towards God. The couple should give a stable future to their children and family that may be in the aspects of financial, emotional and spiritual. They should bring their children to school and educate them and let them become a friend to all. But how would these become successful if a child is being brought up in such an abnormal way, where in his/ her mother and father are of same sexes. The traditional family is composed of the husband, wife and natural children. These units of the society are all normal variables. This is the one that gives a bright future for the society they are in and also by forming a natural family. The family is the most basic unit of the society where the children are being taught values and morals that greatly affect on how they interact with other individuals in the society. Yes, raising a family is sometimes hard especially in raising finances for their education, but the hardship is worth fighting for because of the love you feel for them. The society expects that these children would make their family and their parents as a model as they will grow and build a family of their own. The society needs a family that is stable and the one that they can really recognize. What they expect is a male and female marriage and not of the same sex. The greatly arising sexual revolution brought a big impact on how individuals and the society see and do things, that sometimes they think is not bad were in fact it has already crossed God‘s boundaries. Time has erased the moral values that we should follow, like now marriage is already not seen as a form of procreation, for raising children; that there should be faithfulness and that sex should only be done with in the bounds of it. For Karen Murray it has become a public declaration of love and pledge of fidelity with the partner. The rise of the same revolutionary forces encourages this interest for having a homosexual marriage. The belief that sex is not just about procreating drives the toleration of the society of this same- sex marriage. But the homosexuals does not get affected by this instead they are proud that they have found a relationship where in they will cherish and have commitment forever. Gay marriage or same sex-marriage is totally erasing the real definition of marriage. It removes the reality that it is only the man and the women are to be bind, that both partners should procreate to raise their children who are the hope of the society’ improvement. Approving or making same- sex marriage legal would dissolve the uniqueness of the sacrament that God has given to us. If same sex marriage would be approve, it could jeopardize the health of the society. Diseases like HIV, AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases are much great when one is involved in this same- sex marriage. III. Conclusion The foundation of the family is marriage, which provides the cultural mechanism to insure its continuity. This marriage is the one God wanted for us. The family performs varied functions, among them the sex and parental function, socialization and social control, biological maintenance, status placement, and economic, religious, educational, recreational, and political functions. Therefore, Marriage is such a holy and sanctified Eucharist and is bound to be respected by people.

Analysing Jamaican Creole Through English Language Essay

Analysing Jamaican Creole Through English Language Essay Creoles can be generally defined as genuinely mixed languages, which emerged from the blending together of two or more different languages and became the mother tongue of a new generation of speakers, acquiring the full range of communicative functions that a native language needs (Svartvik 2006: p.183). Most creoles developed as a result of colonialism and lived side by side with the dominant language. As a consequence, these contact varieties were reduced to lower functions and seen as deviant or broken forms of the language from which they derived. Nevertheless, since postcolonial times, there has been a shift towards the recognition and acceptance of national languages and identities, which has given rise to a new status and opportunities for those stigmatised varieties (Schneider 2007). Jamaican Creole, generally known as Patwa, can be considered as a good example of English-based creole which has begun to overcome stigma around its use and be recognised as a fully developed lan guage, as well as a symbol of Jamaican identity ( Schneider 2010: p.102). Jamaican Creole has its origins in the late 17th century, when British colonised the territory (1655) and imported slaves from West Africa to work in the plantations. Those Africans soon started to outnumber white population and became the linguistic models of the new slaves, contributing with this to spread the creole (Schneider 2007). During the decades of colonialism, Jamaica ´s language and culture were dominated by the British norms. In this sense, Standard English was considered as the highest variety, acquired through formal education and used in public and formal context (Devonish and Harry 2008: p. 256); for its part, Jamaican Creole was stigmatised as a bastardized distortion of English, to be avoided at all costs in public discourse (Schneider 2010: p.102). After independence in 1962, a sense of nationalism emerged and led to new attitudes towards Jamaica ´s national culture and language. However, this way for acceptance was not easy and Jamaicans had to fight against prejudices and an exonormative orientation which favoured the Standard variety without taking into account realities of language use and the Jamaicans ´ identity (Schneider 2007: p.234). The figure of Louise Bennett may be used to represent the spirit of this period and can help us to understand the current linguistic situation in Jamaica. Therefore, taking one of the Bennett ´s most famous poems Back to Africa (1966), we are going to analyse the features of Jamaican Creole, as well as the reason that led the poet to use this variety and the ideas she wanted to transmit. The poem deals with a girl, called Miss Mattie, who wants to go back to Africa because she thinks that her homeland is there. The poetic voice develops a group of arguments to try to persuade the girl not to emigrate to that continent and, at the same time, offers the reader a good description of Jamaica ´s essence. Firstly, Bennett presents Jamaica ´s population as a combination of different cultures: (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦) you great great great/ Granma was African/ But Mattie, doan you great great great/ Granpa was Englishman? (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦)/ You whole generation (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦)/ oonoo all is Jamaican! According to Holm (2000: p.93): Ethnic origin of the population in the 1960 census was 76% African, 15% Afro-European, 3.5% East Indian, 1% European, 1% Chinese and 3% other. Nowadays, it is estimated that over 90% of Jamaica ´s population are of African origin (Schneider 2008: p.610). Secondly, the poet alludes to Jamaicans ´ facial features and colour, which reflect their African heritage and distinguish them from English people: oh, you view the countenance/ and between you an de Africans/is great resemblance!. Therefore, Bennett introduces in this poem the defining characteristics of the Jamaican population: their cultural melting pot and their strong African roots. Finally, the poetic voice claims that the girl does not need to look for her homeland because Jamaica is already her home: you dah go fe seek you homelan/ for a right deh so you deh!. In this sense, the poet considers that the real homeland is the place where one is born, rather than the country of ancestral origins. In the same vein, Bennett also seems to encourage Jamaicans to accept their African heritage and make the island their own home, as it is the only way to achieve self-identification: do Sure a whe you come from so you got/ somewhe fe come back to! Regarding the language, the poem is entirely written in basilectal creole. Jamaican Creole has West African languages as its substrate (Startvik 2006: p. 183); which means that languages from Akan, Kwa and Buntu families are likely to have influenced part of Jamaican basic grammar and pronunciation (Patrick 2008: p.610). In this sense, as it can be seen in the poem, Jamaican Creole shares several characteristics with the rest of Atlantic Creoles and differs in some aspects from the English grammar. Firstly, in Jamaican Creole, tense and aspect are not marked by inflectional morphology, but by context. Therefore, neither the third person singular -s nor the past form of the verb come were found in the poem: Ef the whole worl start [`starts ´] fe go back/ whe dem great granpa come [`came ´] from!. In the same vein, progressive aspect is only signalled by pre-verbal dah (you no know wha you dah seh?) and the base form of the verb is used to express participle function in do/Sure a whe you come [`have come ´] from (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦); however, non-concord was appears in the poem to express the past form of the verb to be: (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦) you great great great/ Granma was Africa. Secondly, auxiliary verbs were not found in interrogative or negative sentences. Negation is marked by means of the preverbal negator no, both in negative declaratives sentences and in imperative ones. The use of no is a distinctly creole feature (Scheneider 2010: p.106), which is also very common in other languages, such as Spanish, and can be seen in the early stages of the grammar of second language learners, as well as in child language acquisition. Other negative structures are the use of doan in negative tags (But Mattie, doan you great great great/ Granpa was Englisman?) and the presence of double negations (But no tell nobody say); which is a feature that appears not only in other creoles, but also in other non-standard English varieties (Schneider 2010: p.106). Regarding pronouns, first and second personal forms were found: Me, you, oonoo (`unu ´) and also interrogative pronouns; such as weh/whe (`where ´), as well as the possessive form who-fa (`whose ´). Furthermore, as Patrick (2008: p.633) claims, bare personal pronouns sometimes fulfil possessive functions; in this sense, you can refer to the personal pronoun you or to the possessive you: Ef a hard time you dah run from/Tek you (`your ´) chance!. In the same manner, a single preposition can also cover a range of functions (Schneider 2010: p.106): Mus go back a (`to ´) Englan, de balance a (`of ´) you family. The use of a single form playing several roles is a characteristic that all the linguistic systems possess as a result of applying one of the most fundamental principles of the language: economy. Another feature of Jamaican Creole is the lack of grammatical suffixes (Schneider 2010: p.106). In this sense, possessive -s is avoided and, as Patrick (2008: p.633) says, possession can be expressed by juxtaposition (possessor+ possessed), as in great granmader fader, or by the use of the preposition a (`of ´), as in de balance a you family. In the same vein, plural of nouns are generally not marked or they are expressed by means of the morpheme dem, although it was not found in this poem; rather, Louise Bennett alternates zero-marking of plural (American), very common in basilectal speech, with the plural allomorph -s (Africans), which is closed to mesolectal and acrolectal forms. Finally, it is necessary to point out the use of passive meanings in active form (as in oonoo all barn dung a Bun Grung), as well as the use of fe (`to ´) as the infinitive marker and the presence of say and seh as the complementizer (correspoding to that) to introduce a finit object clause after verb s of thinking or talking (Schneider 2010: p. 106): Me know say dat [`I know that ´] (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦) Apart from the grammar, the manner in which some words were written contributes to reflect locally pronunciation features. In this sense, it was found that the diphthong /ei/, as in `take ´, is monophthongized, giving rise to the form tek. In the same manner, fricatives [ÃŽÂ ¸], [ÃÆ' °] and [Ê’]  do not exist in Jamaican creole (Devonish and Harry 2008: p. 285); therefore, they are substituted by stops (Schneider 2010: p.105), as in the case of dat (`that ´), fader/mader (`father ´/`mother ´) or den (`then ´). Finally, as in other varieties, word-final or syllable-final consonant clusters are usually omitted (Schneider 2010: p.105); this can be seen in words as granpa/granma (`grandpa ´/ `grandma ´), an (`and ´), mus (`must ´) or homelan (`homeland ´). Writing her poems in Jamaican Creole and talking about a national identity, Louise Bennett shows her commitment to a language and a culture that have been undervalue and marginalised throughout time. In this sense, she demonstrates that Jamaican Creole is neither a broken or deficient variety, but, as it was analysed, one fully developed language with its own grammar and vocabulary (Svartvik 2006: p. 176) and; consequently, as able as the Standard English to express the whole range of human experiences, thoughts and emotions. Figures as Louise Bennett contributed to instil pride in Jamaican ´s national language and culture; that is why, nowadays the linguistic situation in this country is totally different from past decades. Although, Standard English is expected to be the variety used in official contexts and by educated speakers (Schneider 2007), most Jamaicans speak a kind of mesolect, a variety which is midway on the continuum between creole and the standard language (Svartvik 2006: p.181) and they moved towards acrolectal or basilectal forms depending on several factors, such as the formality of the context or the social relationship between the interlocutors (Schneider 2007). This lack of correspondence between expectations and reality has led to more tolerant attitudes which have result in new education policies, more presence of creole in political and literary contexts, as well as in the media. Furthermore, attempts to codify the variety with the elaboration of grammars (Cassidy) and dictionari es (Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage) reflect the efforts to make Jamaican Creole an official language (Schneider 2007). However, fifty years after the political independence, some prejudices and debates about the use of Creole still remain and it is only in the power of Jamaicans to make creole a stronger language and a symbol of their identity. Modal verbs, such as mus (`must ´), and the infinite marker fe (`to ´) were also found in the poem, both fulfilling the same function as in Standard English.

A Students View Of Paulo Freires Pedagogy Of The Oppressed Essay

A Student’s View of Paulo Freire’s "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" Freire was one of the most radical insistent educational thinkers of his time. He proposed his own educational theory for society. His argument was for an educational system that focused on creative learning and freedom. Freire’s method was known as "the problem posing" concept. It would allow students and teachers to communicate through dialogue while both are equally responsible in the learning process. Freire’s assessment of education did not support a system that mechanically deposited and reproduced pre-selected information with no communication or dialogue from the student. He feared this would manage and oppress society. This method was known as the "banking" concept. I am of two minds about Freire’s claim that the problem posing concept is most effective. On the one hand, I do agree that the problem posing concept is often effective in the freedom of creativity in certain subjects such as art and creative writing. On the other hand, the banking concept is a necessary evil because it sets down the foundation of education in subjects such as English, science, and mathematics. In the problem posing concept the teacher and the students work together through communication. The teacher no longer just teaches and the students no longer just listen. They both are in dialogue and are able to teach and learn from each other. With this method the students are allowed to share their own ideas and freedom of expressions. When a student expresses his/her thoughts with others he/she is challenged and becomes more aware of his/her own reality, allowing transformation into the world of freedom and not domination. Jone Lewis cites Freire who says, "Education either functions... ...ed to being shaped. The student must be able to be creative and see the world freely as a reality in progress. Freire also claims that this concept may be resisted by the oppressing classes to any changes in class. He insists that the banking concept of education is a ready- to- wear approach. A student is an object to be filled with pre-selected information. This approach he believed minimized a student’s creativity thus making him/her adaptable and more manageable in society. My feelings on these issues are truly mixed. I do believe that a student should be able to do more than reproduce pre-selected information while learning. On the other hand, I feel that it is important to learn the basic facts first. I do agree that the problem posing concept is effective in some subjects, however I think other subjects of education are better served with the banking concept.

Censorship In Europe :: essays research papers

Americans think of Europeans as essentially like themselves. They believe European societies are like their own-rooted in the rule of law, freedom of religion, democratic government, market competition, and an unfettered press. In recent years, however, Europeans have given up an essential liberty: freedom of speech. It is true that in the United States prevailing orthodoxies on some questions are ruthlessly enforced but it is still legal to say just about anything. Not so in much of Europe. In the last decade or so countries we think of as fellow democracies-France, Germany, Switzerland and others-have passed laws that limit free speech for the same crude ideological reasons that drove the brief, unsuccessful vogue of campus speech codes in the United States. Today in Europe there are laws as bad as anything George Orwell could have imagined. In some countries courts have ruled that the facts are irrelevant, and that certain things must not be said whether they are true or false. In others, a defendant in court who tries to explain or defend a forbidden view will be charged on the spot with a fresh offense. Even his lawyer can be fined or go to jail for trying to mount a defense. In one case a judge ordered that a bookseller's entire stock-innocent as well as offending titles-be burned! Just as Eastern Europe is emerging from it, Western Europe has entered the thought-crime era, in a return to the mentality that launched the Inquisition and the wars of religion. It is a tyranny of the left practiced by the very people who profess shock at the tactics of Joseph McCarthy, an exercise of raw power in the service of pure ideology. The desire not merely to debate one's opponents but to disgrace them, muzzle them, fine them, jail them is utterly contrary to the spirit of civilized discourse. It is profoundly disturbing to find this ugly sentiment codified into law in some of the countries we think of as pillars of Western Civilization. At the same time, these laws cannot help but draw attention to the very ideas they forbid. Truth does not generally require the help of censors. There are two subjects about which Europeans can no longer speak freely. One is race and the other is Nazi Germany. "Anti-racism" laws generally take the form of forbidding the expression of opinions that might stir up "hatred" against any racial or ethnic group.

Children with Disabilities and Their Shot at Education Essay

The widening gap between the rich and the poor attest to the saying that â€Å"the rich is getting richer and the poor is getting poorer† (Houck, 2006). The book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America which was written by Barbara Ehrenreich showed a vivid picture of how those occupying blue collar jobs fail to make ends meet with a meager income. The irony here lies in the fact that these people occupy jobs whose services or products they can’t even buy. This phenomenon is described by the great philosopher Karl Marx as the Theory of Alienation (Pappenheim, 1959). A worker can no longer claim that the product he is making is truly his, hence, he is alienated from his products and can’t even afford to buy it himself. Alienation is said to be a product of capitalism. Barbara Ehrenreich related in her book that even hotel maids can’t afford a decent place to stay in when in fact they toil more than most middle class men do. Those who work at Wal-mart can’t even buy half of what is being sold in the store that they are working for (Ehrenreich, 2006). Though they work even harder than those who are buying their products they earn only six to seven dollars an hour. Poverty therefore is not caused by laziness because those who are poor work tremendously harder as compared to rich individuals who only sit behind the desk all day and wait for the paycheck (Anderson, . et. al. 2006). These people exhaust every possible way to make ends meet and that includes finding a second job just to pay the rent and cutting down on basic necessities. Even so, what they earn is not enough to cover for all the household expenses. If you take into consideration everyone in a community, only a small fraction of its population enjoys living a well-off life. A majority suffers from lack of resources or doesn’t have enough food to fill their stomachs. Imbalance in the distribution of resources and wealth affects majority of the citizens. The sad reality lies on whom are the ones getting much and who are the ones not getting anything at all. Majority of the people suffer from low wages while people like Ms. Ehrenreich would not even give a wink at dispensing 40 dollars for a pair of khaki pants (Ehrenreich, 2006). Forty dollars for a pair of pants for some would be too much when 15 dollars would do. The ones in the higher echelons of the society are the ones who are not doing actual hard labor. They capitalize from the hard work of the poor working class, literally giving their sweat, sweating their lungs out and blood just to make money. They work hard and gets paid less, barely enough to make a living out of it. Here is where we come to ask, why do they settle for menial jobs? Is there a job shortage in our country? Apparently, there is none. Even foreigners find fulfilling jobs in our country so why cant our own citizens find one? That is because of skills and qualification. Most jobs that pay above minimum wage are those that require a college degree or educational attainment. Not everyone has the opportunity to study in college; therefore not everyone is qualified to get a high paying job. Even if they get to study college, more often than not they are not able to maximize the learning in the school because of factors such as lack of sleep and decent meal. More so for children with disabilities and are from a poor family. There are other factors that affect a child’s learning and comprehension in class and more often than not, these factors are often overlooked especially in a normal class setting. These children are categorized as lazy, mentally slow or hopeless. They suffer from discrimination and â€Å"labeling† which according to psychology, will damage and weaken the child’s perception and self-esteem. Barbara Ehrenreich, in her book, was able to somewhat apply sociological imagination which was coined by C. Wright Mills in 1959 in her analysis on the state of the people in the labor force. She was able to show why these people are often found by their supervisors slack and not so enthusiastic in their jobs. This is due to lack of sleep and fatigue caused by having two jobs, not having proper and complete meal, and lacking other necessities that makes a worker productive. She went beyond the conventional notion that they are inherently lazy and is not competitive. The sociological imagination links poverty to larger picture, one that occurs in society as a whole and not just on the individual (Mills, 2000). If sociological imagination is to be applied in a classroom setting, a child with disabilities coming from a poor family not being able to keep up with the lessons will not be viewed as sheer laziness by the child or the parents. Rather, a broader picture will enable the teachers to analyze the complexities of poverty that ultimately caused the child to exhibit slow performance in class or even cause the child’s disability. For one, an impoverished family can’t afford regular check ups and medicines upon conception of the child. This alone increases the risks of having complications during pregnancy. We can’t blame the parents if they have no money in preparation for the pregnancy because this family is caught up in the complex web of poverty. The parents might be working hard to give the child a better future but factors such as inflation, epidemic, wide scale cost-cutting of companies, national depression and other factors may have hindered them from preparing for the birth of the child. The rate of poverty for families with children below 18 years of age is 27% (Jackson, 2000). Poverty for a child with disabilities can cause him his future. For one, parents fail to give these children proper medicines and other necessities for them to function normally. Consequently, these parents can’t afford to enroll their child in a school for children with disabilities. As a result, they either become the laughing stock of the entire classroom or they stop going to school. Either way, if they don’t get proper education they too will be caught up in the vicious cycle of poverty (Zou, 2005). Inclusive Classrooms The philosophy of inclusion operates on the premise that a child with disabilities will learn more about society and will have better chances at his future when he is not segregated from society itself. Simply put, inclusion setting allows for children with disabilities to participate in a normal class and encourage him to participate like a normal student instead of discriminating him on the grounds of his disabilities (Salend, 2007). The classroom then becomes a pool of diverse students wherein children with disabilities learn to socialize with normal children and normal children will then learn to respect and not discriminate children with disabilities or those who have cultural background (Salend, 2007). This setting is said to be beneficial to both the normal and special children since they will be able to socialize and prepare for their encounter with diverse individuals in the future. Inclusive setting entails collaboration with the parents and is a tedious process. It is a participatory process wherein the children and the parents are part of the planning and not just mere receivers. They asses the needs of the students and adjust to it so that they will be able to address their individual needs. However such task requires much effort from the teachers, parents and the students (Salend, 2007). This is where most of the dilemma comes from. If the effort of the teachers in the inclusive setting is the same as those in the special learning institution, they ought to be paid much higher than normal teachers. A participatory classroom setting really needs much effort and patience for it to work, however if the goal of the educator/teacher is to teach efficiently then effort should not be an issue. As an educator it is their duty and pride to see their students learn. The success of inclusive learning is a case-to-case basis since the needs of the students are different. There are students who require stringent measures in a classroom setting because of health risks of aggressive behaviors. While inclusive setting is good for the social and emotional skills of a child, the safety and health of the students should be taken into consideration. Conclusion Inclusive classrooms give a ray of hope for those who are financially challenged. It increases the chances of a physically challenged child to have a better shot at his future. Much like most of the children from poor families, the chances of these children in getting low-wage or below minimum wage jobs will also decrease. Once they acquire the skills needed for high paying jobs then the cycle of poverty in their own family will be broken. However such is just a small part of the poverty puzzle. The U. S. as an industrialized country, has one of the widest inequality gaps in the world in terms of income (Schifferes, 2003). Despite its ability to generate income, it remains a fact that even powerful corporations and few individuals still hold more than 60 percent of the economy. Capitalism as Marx would put it will always divide and widen the gap between those who do labor and those who sit and watch them work, thus, the rich and the poor. Poverty will never be resolved overnight or it may not be the concern of the government or the society, but it is the duty of the government or the state to ensure equal distribution of wealth. They should protect the basic rights and interest of its people because the state is created by the people and for the people. The government must provide better programs with regards to education, in which it will cater the need of poor families. Education must be considered as a right not a privilege. It is indeed true that the chances of getting a good quality of education for the poor is thin, however by maximizing the resources such as the ordinary classroom setting and transforming it to inclusive classroom setting, even poverty can be alleviated. It is through collaborative and participatory action that a society can achieve progress.